By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - You're forgiven if you are asking, “Who is Takamaru?”
When I was first drafting this article, I thought the dude's name was “Takamura.” Whatever his name is, he doesn't matter. Takamaru is a generic Japanese samurai guy from an old Famicom game that no one in the Western hemisphere played until 28 years later when The Mysterious Murasame Castle got brought to the Nintendo 3DS eShop in other countries.
It wasn't until Takamaru's Ninja Castle was its own minigame — a bottom-tier minigame at that — in Nintendo Land that people knew there was a dude named Takamaru out there. You wouldn't know he was a samurai though. You might've thought he was a ninja. Takamaru doesn't even appear in the game. You don't play as him. You play as a Mii ninja. Who the hell is Takamaru? No one knows, but that MYSTERY (in Murasame) got a whole bunch of people trying to say that Super Smash Bros. would be a lot better with him as a playable character.
There is some tiny, fledgling Takamaru for Smash movement. People who put him on a long wishlist filled with other characters. No one has explained his appeal to me. The game doesn't seem all that great — it's like The Legend of Zelda but much more action-oriented and not puzzle-y. It also has a timer, so it must be awful. I'm convinced only weeaboos want this guy in, but now they can obsess over the Hoshido in Fire Emblem Fates instead.
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| The Mysterious Murasame Castle failed to take off as a franchise. It's not for a mysterious reason. ...Anyway, that's Takamaru crossing a bridge. |
Takamaru ended up becoming a dreadfully boring Assist Trophy who jumped around like a freak, throwing ninja stars at people or something. Very generic and totally forgettable. I wouldn't be surprised if what was left of the Takamaru for Smash crowd actually forgot that he was in as an Assist Trophy.
Almost five years ago, one of KoopaTV's first articles was about how three characters that could be in Super Smash Bros. 4 would be terrible to have. Those characters were Takamaru, Geno, and Pac-Man.
None of those have stopped being terrible choices.
Ludwig isn't against fledgling movements just because they are fledgling (he voted for Phoenix Wright in the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot, after all), but the characters need to be worthy. Takamaru isn't worthy in any possible way. Ludwig is considering having several character-related articles between now and the release of Super Smash Bros. For Switch, since it's an interesting set of topics to talk about.
Takamaru is once again still an Assist Trophy.
I never heard about that guy, but actually he looks cool for a Smash character, and by the fact he is one of Nintendo IP Characters could be well received (I'd rather have him than 6 FE characters.... not that I have anything against FE but 6 characters is kinda much)
ReplyDeleteI think we need a net drop in the number of disjointed hitboxes from swords that are in the game. That means cutting FE characters and not putting Takamaru.
DeleteReminder that, even though he's a samurai, he would pretty much be a ninja. We already have two ninjas in the game (Sheik and Greninja).
I mean, Takamaru would pretty much be a generic, non-elemental Greninja. Which is fine if you cut Greninja out of the series, I guess?
I would love to see Phoenix Wright in Smash, but I doubt it would happen since Capcom is already represented by Mega Man. If I had my way, I'd add Professor Layton also so then there would a true Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright battle.
ReplyDeleteBesides the new characters shown in the Direct, I think that Chibi Robo will be a new character in the game based on a tweet Nintendo sent out in January. There is no context that follows it or any caption given with the picture. My interpretation of this tweet was that it was one of the first hints that a new Smash game was in development. The Smash ball is reflected in his eyes just like the Inkling Girl's in the trailer. https://twitter.com/nintendoamerica/status/951144137352396800?
I thought that would be a limiting factor, until, of course, they had Ryu be a playable character.
DeleteThat isn't the Smash logo. That is official artwork of Chibi Robo from Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash.
As you may remember, that's from 2015.